Long Days and Longer Nights

by HuggingTheHellHound

Humanstuck. Sollux has a fairly good life, and when the girl Aradia moved into the apartment two doors down, he finds himself drawn to her at once. Trying to keep his cool, but steadily realizing he cares for her, it only get more confusing as accidents happen,his friendship with Feferi grows , and so do his feelings for Aradia.

1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The dark haired boy shot up in a cold sweat, chest heaving as he clung to the yellow and black stripped comforter, trying to cling to reality. Gog he hated nightmares… His night had been plagued with dark dreams, voices whispering about anything and everything, taunting his unconscious mind with lucid visions and false promises. He should have been used to it at this point; He heard the voices all day while he was awake, and all night while he slept. Yet tonight they had been particularly troublesome.

Sollux ran a hand across his forehead, wiping away the sweat that had beaded there. He could use a shower… The beads of perspiration were already beginning to drip down his pale skin. Though he wasn't sure he had the time for it. Glancing at the clock, he saw it read 4:13. School started at 7:30, but he was sure sleep was only going to taunt him with more nightmares, so he groaned and rolled out of bed.

'sleep now psionic, there's time, trust us…'

'trust uuuuuuusss….'

'do you not beliiiiieve uuuuuus…?'

There were the voices, ever present as always. Sometimes there were multitudes of them, all roaring in his head at once, yet now there were mercifully few. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he stumbled to his desk, a torrent wasteland and paradise of computers. Sollux had been avidly collecting computers and electronics for years, since early in his childhood, and the interest had grown to obsession and fascination as the years passed. Parts were strewn across the massive oak table, motherboards laying in a pile, wires overlapping in a highway of electricity. Yet beside the madness of opened electronics sat a rather impressive set up of 6 monitors, 2 mounted to the wall, 4 side by side in a curved row, standing proud in their glossy glory. The boy groaned, fumbling to find the bright yellow wireless mouse, buried under a hard drive, before shaking it. In a burst of light, the multiple screens awaked at once, beginning 2the process of booting up his network system.

Of course Sollux had his own wireless network. He found using the apartment complex's connection tedious and slow, and his amazing hacking abilities made it easy to access anything he wanted with only a few clicks. As the computer booted up, he made his way to the bathroom, flipping on the shower to let the water heat. Unlike online, this took time, precious time, and he hated waiting for it. But the hot water had a way of soothing the voices and giving him much needed alone time in his head.

When the multitude of screens flitted on, an array of even more yellow and black stripes, he moved the mouse down to the pesterchum logo and clicked the little yellow face, booting up the chat program. His fingers worked feverishly across the keys as he logged in, scoping out who was online and who wasn't. With a slight grimace of disappointment, no one was there to greet him. He minimized the tab and strode over to the bathroom, taking off his boxers before warily getting under the steady stream of hot water.

He could feel his muscles relax under the pressure of the burning liquid, and he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh of comfort. This was good, he could deal with this. Squeezing a fair amount of shampoo into his jet black hair, he tried to think clearly, disregarding the voices as he massaged the cleaning foam into his hair. Today was the first day of his senior year, his final year in the boring wasteland that was suburbian high school. He wasn't so much excited as ready to have it over and done with, and move on to college, and be done with that, until finally he could enjoy himself just working with computers and not have to worry about anything else anymore.

Sollux let the water wash away the shampoo before just standing there, taking his time to sit and enjoy the clarity of his mind, letting it wander until the water started to get cold. He toweled off before wrapping the soft material around himself, holding it up as he started towards his room. However, on the way there, he stopped to look at himself in the wide mirror hanging on the wall.

His reflection was not a bad one by any means. In fact, Sollux could very confidently say he was an attractive man. He had dark black hair that was currently a wet mop on his head, but had an odd tendency of spiking out on either side of his head, giving him a balanced yet unique look. He was slender and pale, as he didn't really do much in the means of working out, though his arms were strong and his fingers long and swift. He was fairly tall too, something he liked, a good 5' 11", which made him tall, but not towering like some of the guys he knew.

And his eyes. His eyes were what he liked about himself the most. One was a deep blue, with a ring of gray around the center. His mother always said she would kill for eyes that color blue. Yet his other was a rich maroon, with an almost blood red outer ring. They caught attention, and he was often pointed out for their miss matched color scheme. But he liked to think they suited him; The rest of him was miss matched too. From the four piercings he had- two studs on each ear, the second smaller than the first- to the miss matched black and white shoes he sometimes wore when he'd woken up to late and struggled to grab something in order to get to school on time. Sollux liked his eyes. And so did the girls.

"All the bitcheth, Captor. All the bitcheth." He smirked to himself, grinning at his reflection. "Only a year left in thith hell hole and then you're gone for good. Nothinth' gonna sthop you."

His lisp was one thing he didn't care for about himself much; It retracted from the 'Woah, who's the sexy guy with the different eyes?' look, and added to the 'who's the tech geek wearing two different shoes?' persona that some people had given him. It was an 'against the teeth' lisp, as his doctor had called it as a child, which was a reasonable name, seeing as the issue was his tongue pressing against his two front teeth uncontrollably as he spoke. He had been born with it, and his mother, and his past girlfriends and lady friends alike, had assured him it was cute, sexy even. But he had learned to live with it, and live with it he did.

Strolling into his bedroom after quickly brushing his teeth, his glanced at the clock. It was only 5:20, and he didn't have to leave until 7... A groan left his lips. He hated waking up early… Not because he couldn't handle the lack of sleep, which he was used to, but because it left him with an amount of free time he would ordinarily dedicate to computer work, and left him without the steady hand necessary to properly dismantle and reassemble to his heart's content.

So instead he grabbed an outfit consisting very plainly of gray skinny jeans, a black shirt, and a pair of shoes, being careful to make sure they matched, and his pair of tech glasses, one lens red, one lens blue. They made his eyes pop even more, attracted attention, and all around famed his face quite well. That and they dimmed the light from the many monitors of his computers. He had long ago grown accustomed to blinking less, if not at all while he was online. The glasses made the pain of his occasional blinking hurt considerably less.

Sitting at his computer, he skimmed through Reddit, Tumblr, Facebook, the usual internet mixing grounds he was used to before the Pesterchum logo at the bottom of the screen caught his eye. Someone had been pestering him. He glanced back at the clock. It was only 5:35, so he hadn't been on too long, and he would have heard the noise. Must have happened while he was in the shower. Wondering who would be crazy enough to be up at a time like this, he clicked the tab at the bottom of his screen.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

GC: SOLLUX

GC: H3Y

GC: YOU TH3R3? :[

GC: OH 1 S33

GC: F1GUR4T1VLY OF COURS3

GC: W3LL S1NC3 YOU'R3 TOO BUSY TO T4LK TO YOUR ONLY FR13ND 1'LL JUST GO

GC: D4MN 1T SOLLUX 1 H4V3 NOTH1ING 3LS3 TO DO

GC: T4LK TO M3! :[

Sollux smirked at the spam he had built up from ignoring his pesterchum. Terezi was a good friend of his, but she had a way of literally pestering and bugging him. She was a total troll by nature, and a notorious prankster, but they had met freshman year and had been relatively close since.

They had met at school, like normal kids. He had just been walking down the halls, fiddling with his phone and trying to boost his wifi connection when he had slammed into her, knocking them both to the floor. He had been about to grumble some apology when suddenly he found a girl in his lap, starting at him deeply. Or, she would be, but both her eyes were solid red. This had made him recoil slightly, and he stammered his apology faster, slipping up and getting tongue tied on his lisp until he noticed the red eyes girl was… Sniffing him.

"The fuck are you even doing…?" He had asked, blinking repeatedly. "You smellllll… Different, somehow." The girl had said, her voice rising up and down in inflection in all the wrong places. He was about to reply when she grinned brightly, her smile wide and Cheshire like. Before he could fully understand the situation, she was off him and pulling him to his feet, adjusting a pair of red glasses on her face with one hand, and shaking his slender fingers while clutching her walking stick with the other. "I'm Terezi."

"Thollux." He replied slowly, shaking her hand before taking her in. The girl had on teal skinny jeans, a black tank top, and bright red shoes, and had natural red hair cut jagged at her shoulders to match. "Nice to meet you, Thollux, iiinteresting name."

"No, It'th," He sighed. This always happened with his lisp. He bit his tongue, struggling to pronounce his name correct. "Sssssthollux."

"Ssssssthollux is a good name too." The red head grinned.

Sollux groaned angrily, "No, it'th-" he tried to correct, but his voice was cut off by her cackle of a laugh.

"Sollux, Sollux, I know!" She grinned. "I like you… You play many video games, Sollux?"

Sollux grinned.

The two had exchanged chumhandles on the spot.

On his way home from school that day, he had been walking casually when a sharp object rapped against his back. He turned to face it only to see Terezi, standing with a grin, walking stick in hand. "Where ya live?" She asked curiously. "The Alternia Apartment Complex." He said curtly. "Wooooooah, same!" She laughed, grabbing his hand and taking off running. Sollux hadn't had any idea what to do, but he didn't have a choice but to be lead home by a blind girl, zig zagging down the random paths she chose and barely managing to dodge cars as she ran, cackling the entire way home. It had been a bonding experience to say the least, and the two were close from then on.

His attention drifted back to the computer screen, and he quickly typed up a response.

TA: TZ,, the fuck are you biitchiing about?

GC: SO NOW H3 SP34KS GC: W3LCOM3 TO TH3 P4RTY

GC: BUT W3 W3R3 G3TT1NG 4LONG JUST F1N3 W1THOUT YOU, TH4NKS

TA: ii 2aw that

GC: OH F1N3 TH3N, T4UNT TH3 BL1ND G1RL W1TH YOUR S1GHT, TH4TS COOL

This made him laugh. He always forgot Terezi was blind when they talked online. He knew she had a brail keyboard, but the fact she could use the internet at all impressed him.

TA: how do you even read the2e chat2?

GC: 1 H4V3 4 PROGR4M TH4T R34DS WH4T YOU S3ND M3

GC: Of COURSE 1TS 4NNOY1NG AS H3LL H3AR1NG DOUBL3 11S 4ND 2S 4LL TH3 T1ME, BUT 1 C4N USU4LLY P13C3 TOG3TH3R WH4T YOU'R3 S4Y1NG

GC: C4US3 1M SO CL3V3R 4ND 4LL :]

TA: ye2 well,, a2 iintere2tiing a2 that ii2,, was there any partiicular rea2on for your hara22ment or are you ju2t tryiing to annoy?

GC: 4CTU4LLY, Y3S, TH3R3 W4S 4 R34SON, 1F YOU'D B3 SO K1ND 4S TO L1ST3N

GC: 4 N3W G1RL M0V3D IN

GC: 1 COULD SM3LL N3W G1RL WH3N 1 W4S GO1NG DOWN TH3 ST41RS TOD4Y

TA: diidn't your mom yell at you for going down 2taiir2 after you fell la2t tiime?

GC: W3LL Y3S, BUT 1'M S3V3NT33N, SH3 DO3SN'T OWN M3

GC: 4NYW4Y

GC: 1 W4S GO1NG DOWN THE ST41RS, 4ND US1NG MY C4N3 L1K3 1 DO

GC: 4ND 1 SM3LL 4 P3RSON 1'V3 N3V3R SM3LL3D B3FOR3

GC: SH3 MUST B3 N3W

TA: how do you know iit'2 a giirl?

GC: SH3 SM3LL3D L1K3 S4DN3SS, M1ST3RY, 4ND… FROGS…

GC: BUT 1T D1DN'T SM3LL B4D

GC: 1T H4D A SW33TN3SS TO 1T

GC: TH4T 4ND SH3 S41D "Excuse me, w0uld y0u please m0ve…?" 1N 4 VO1C3 TH4T SOUND3D V3RY HOLLOW 4ND D3VO1D OF 3MOT1ON

GC: K1ND4 L1KE K4RK4T 3XC3PT M1NUS TH3 R4G3

GC: 4ND S3LF P1TY

GC: 4ND CURS1NG

GC: SO 1 GU3SS NOTH1NG L1K3 K4RK4T

TA: ok,, 2o why doe2 iit matter to me that there'2 a new giirl?

GC: C4US3 GC: H3R APARTM3NT SM3LL3D CLOS3 TO YOURS

GC: YOU SHOULD S4Y H3LLO

TA: TZ iit2 almo2t 2iix iin the morniing

TA: 2he wouldn't be awake

GC: YOU COULD 4LW4YS ST4ND TO TRY

GC: GOTT4 GO

GC: MOMS SHOUT1NG

GC: JUST GO S4Y H3LLO SOLLUX 1T C4NT HURT 4NYTH1NG

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

Sollux pushed away from his desk, letting his head fall back and groaning in annoyance. So what if there WAS a new girl? It was more like Nepeta, his overly bubbly cat loving friend to greet new people to the apartment complex. She'd pounce on them in her over sized green jacket and purr out a hello, just like she had done when he had first moved here.

He looked over at the clock again. It was 6:15 now, as good a time as any to head out. He pushed his chair away from the desk, rolling a foot or so before rising to his feet. He fumbled around his room, grabbing his back pack and shoving in one of his laptops before heading out.

"Dad! I'm headin' out now!" He called out, grabbing his car keys off the coffee table. "Sollux, wait!" A chipper voice called from the kitchen. There was some bustling, and the sound of a pan dropping on the floor, before a little man ran into the living room. About 4 feet tall, Sollux's stepfather was more of a dad to him than his real one, who he had long since stopped worrying about. The little man standing before him was well dressed in a black suit, his hair combed neatly on his head. He had a smile on his face, and a round nose to match equally round eyes.

His name was Clubs, and every since Sollux's father had left, he had been there for Sollux's young mother as she struggled to raise him. He was a nice man, but Sollux was pretty sure he worked for the mafia or something. He always saw 3 other well dressed men coming and going late at night, and his step dad was always getting threats of getting stabbed from a man with an eye patch. If that didn't scream mafia, he didn't know what did. Yet he'd been there for Sollux's mother, and whatever he did, he had enough money to support them all and then some.

His father smiled, handing him a few crumpled up twenty dollar bills. "For lunch money and stuff, mkay? Take care kid, good grades this year and the rest will come." Sollux smiled at his step father's kindness. "Thankth dad." He replied, hugging the little man. "Where'th mom?" "Oh, asleep still. She has a migraine again…" Clubs said sadly, looking in the direction of the master bedroom before turning back. "But I'll take care of her, don't you worry. Now get goin', kid, you have a long day ahead of you!"

Sollux said his good byes and closed the door, locking it behind him and slipping the keys into his pocket before turning down the hall. Just as he did, however, the door of the apartment door not right next door, but one door down opened. So someone did move in, huh? He didn't really care though, he thought, as he walked past his neighbor's door. So there's a stranger now, cool. But it was as he was about to pass the opened door that the man stepped out.

Tall, about Sollux's height, if not an inch of two higher, loomed in front of him, making him stop abruptly. He was dressed incredibly nice, in a suit that looked almost like his step father's but far more expensive looking. A short rimmed fedora sat on his hair, which was a glossy black. He when he looked at Sollux, his eyes were thin, and his face narrow, but well sculpted.

"So, there are other teenagers in this building." The man said as he looked Sollux up and down with a distasteful look at his clothes, in a voice that wasn't posh, but more elegant than Sollux had been expecting. For some reason, he felt as though he had heard it before. He racked his brain before realizing he had seen this man, if only for an instant, shooing out one of his step father's business partners, the stabby one, with an curt apology for 'Slicks unacceptable drama making abilities', though Sollux had no clue what that meant.

The man looked at him a bit long before pulling a cell phone from the chest pocket of his suit, which was when Sollux noticed the 'D.D.' sewn into the pocket in flowing letters.

The man turned back to the open door, calling out, "Aradia! Unless you would prefer to walk, get off the computer and let's go!" "I'm finishing this game with Tavros father, I told you!" A voice called from inside the apartment. Sollux couldn't see all the way inside but what he saw of the entry hall way was a dimly lit hall with a painting of a beautiful naked woman hanging on the wall.

"Aradia, I am done waiting young lady!" The man called again, tapping his dress shoes on the floor. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Sollux tried to walk past, but the man once more turned and looked at him. "I hope you will show the ut-most kindness to my daughter while we stay here, young man. I can't stand when men treat young ladies incorrectly- ARADIA LET'S GO!" He finished by yelling back into the apartment once more. At this point, Sollux was utterly confused, blinking and stuttering as he tried to reply. "I'm right here." A girl's voice said, closer now, very close.

And instantly, there she was, walking through the door way to the tall man's side. A girl with pale white skin, as pale, if not more so than his own. Her hair was layered at her shoulders, but fell down her back in a long beautiful sway. She was dressed simple, yet classy, with a long black skirt and a white shirt with a red sweater vest on top. And as if to compliment the simplicity, around her neck was a necklace with a silver Aries sign, the ram head obvious on the red fabric.

"Tsk, tsk…" The man said, shaking his head before sighing. "On your first day of school too… Such a waste Aradia, but it will do I suppose. You do have your bag, yes?" In reply the beautiful girl held up a messenger bag, also black, slung around her shoulder. "Good. Then we'll be going now." The man stated, and began to walk down the tiled hall, clacking his dress shoes as he walked. The girl turned to follow him, before stopping and looking at Sollux.

He looked at her for a moment, unsure of what to do or say. He really needed to get to school, and this would seriously set him back. But he had to admit, if this was the new girl Terezi was talking about, she WAS pretty. Beautiful, even, though she had an emptiness in her red eyes. She batted them curiously, the gray eyeshadow making the color stand out even more once they opened again. He couldn't tell why, but his heart fluttered a little.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but must have only been a few seconds, because the man that must have been her father was just reaching the elevator, she held out a hand. "Aradia," She said with a smile. He stared a moment before blushing darkly, grabbing her and and shaking gently. "Thollux."

"Sollux…." She said, pondering a moment before nodding. "I like that name."

"Aradia!" The sharp dressed man called from down the hallway. "It was nice meeting you, Sollux." She smiled, before turning quickly and running down the hall, barely making the elevator in time. He watched the steel doors close before standing a moment and staring.

He had never seen a girl quite like her before. She was intriguing. She was different. And just like Terezi said, she seemed a little distant and hollow, but that smile promised that, with Time, she could be fun and happy. It irritated him a little that he felt this way. Girls fell for him, not the other way around.

Whatever the case, he was late. And after glancing at his clock and realizing this fact, he raced towards the elevator, mashing the down button. He tried to think about school, about meeting up with Terezi and Karkat today, about anything other than the beautiful new girl who kept coming back to his mind. But he just couldn't stop thinking about her… Aradia… She had gotten his name on the first try, immediately understanding his lisp. Not even Clubs could do that when they had first met. This along with everything else was swirling around his mind, and to top it off, the first of the voices were just starting back up again.

As the elevator door opened, and he stormed inside, mashing the button for the lobby. His step father had been right. He could already tell this day was going to be a long one.